1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a device for removing the outer rind from melon sectors.
2. Brief Statement of the Prior Art
Melons, such as cantaloupes, Persian melons, watermelons, etc., which are processed by sectoring and removing of rind have found an increasing acceptance in the market. The processed melons provide growers with a reasonable alternative for upgrading the market value of their produce and provide the end user, e.g., frozen food processors, commercial restaurants, food chains and the like, with fruit requiring little or no preparation prior to serving.
Unfortunately, there is no efficient, automated device which is specifically designed to remove rind from sectors of melons. In the conventional preparation, melons are washed, sectored into halves, quarters, sixths, eighths, etc., having moon-shapes. The seeds are removed, and the melon sectors are washed by floating in a water bath. The washed sectors are removed from the water bath and manually trimmed to remove rind.
Mechanical trimming devices have not been used to remove rind from melons because no device has been designed which avoids damage to the melon or excess loss of valuable melon to waste. The market demand, which has only recently developed for trimmed, fresh melon, has been met by manual trimming of melons.
An example of a manual device which has been proposed for removing rind from melon sectors is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,832. That device is similar to a wire cheese cutter in that it has a roller which rides on the inside of the melon sector and guides a cutting member beneath the rind, along the exterior surface of the sector. This device does not have the flexibility to trim melons of varied sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,615,304 discloses a fruit peeling machine which is useful for removing the peel from citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons and grapefruit. That device is taught as useful when processing citrus fruits for production of fruit juice, an operation which can tolerate damage to the fruit during the peeling operation. Citrus fruits are unlike melons, as they have a layer of pulp which separates the fruit from the peel and facilitates its removal.
There have been devices designed for skinning of meat products as, for example, the devices shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,522,728; 2,912,027 and 3,898,923. In these devices a meat product such as pork jowls is placed on a table and pressed into contact with a rotating feeder roll which has sharp points to penetrate and grip the skin of the meat product and force it over a knife blade which severs the skin from the meat product. While this device is suitable for its intended purpose to de-skin a meat product, it is not suited for removal of rind from fruit in an automated operation as it requires constant manual loading and movement of the meat product against the feed roller. Furthermore, it is necessary that the operator press the meat product against the feed roller, an action which presents a hazard to the operator, as acknowledged in U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,923.